Medical imaging creates visual representations of the interior of a body for medical diagnostics, physiology, research, and other functions. Medical imaging allows clinicians to visualize internal structures hidden by the skin and bones, as well as to diagnose and treat disease. Many different medical imaging modalities are currently available, including radiology, which uses the imaging technologies of X-ray radiography, magnetic resonance imaging, medical ultrasonography or ultrasound, and nuclear medicine functional imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT).
Medical imaging scans may be performed according to a variety of scanning protocols, which may be dependent on the anatomy being scanned (e.g., cardiac versus oncologic), diagnostic goal of the scan, or other parameters. The different protocols may include different numbers of images and different image reconstruction protocols, for example.